Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter have opened whole new vistas of opportunity for people to stay connected, share information and discuss topics. Companies seeking to maintain a corporate image must understand how powerful social media venues can be. A single unhappy customer can spread negative information regarding your company to millions of viewers in a matter of minutes and traditional responses such as press releases and official statements fall woefully short of reaching the same audiences. Social media crisis management must meet the problem on its home turf by countering the negative messages in the same venues in which they have been spread.
In order to implement effective social media crisis management, you must be aware of the risks. This means you'll need to appoint someone to keep an eye on the various social media outlets using alerts or listening software. You can't combat a problem if you don't know it's there. You should also determine what your response plan will be in the event of a crisis. If a disgruntled employee posts a negative YouTube video, you should have someone on staff who can create an effective counter video quickly and efficiently. If the venue is Twitter, someone should be prepared to send tweets as necessary to combat the problem. Your company goal should be to have a plan ready so that in the event of a social media crisis, you can respond as quickly as possible in any format necessary.
convinceandconvert.com
This site provides four basic steps that all companies should take in order to be prepared to handle a social media firestorm. By implementing these steps, you can prepare yourself to handle any social media problem that comes your way. This site is about preparation and never being caught off guard.
guerrilla-viral-marketing.suite101.com
This is a step by step guide to handling any crisis situation. With this information, you'll know how to plan for crisis by being prepared and knowing what your response will be. You'll also find suggestions for specific actions that can be taken in the event of a social media crisis scenario.
smartmarketers.com
In this post, you'll read an in depth discussion of how to prepare social media crisis protocols. You'll also learn what tools you need to be familiar with in order to effectively handle a crisis situation. Part 2 of this article will give you specific techniques to implement and will tell you what should and shouldn't be part of your crisis management strategy.
experiencetheblog.com
This site talks about the dangers of not developing a sufficient social media crisis management strategy. It discusses the level of damage that can be done and contrasts traditional response options with more effective social media responses.
Ogilvy Public Relations
This company gets props for 2 reasons right off the bat. 1. They have a four letter domain name! 2. The have been around for almost as long as I have been alive. Check these cats out. I am a little disappointed by their brown text that is crazy hard to read. I cannot understand for the life of me why designers are so addicted to colored text like brown and grey. I have to remind our design team on a regular bases to change the color of the text so that users can actually read our message!
SSPR
SSPR believes that every company today needs a social media strategy. They have something called a Social Media Bootcamp. I am not sure what it is but it sounds cool. It is hard to tell if this group knows what they are doing or if they feel they need this page to let the public know they are hip. SSPR is located in Glenview Illinois. 847-955-0700
